Keeping a pile of dried leaves in my
Arms, dropping one, two, five, ten.
I cannot keep them all together,
Shambling to the nearest trash can.

I hear them fall, but not the ground,
Till I hear a "Scrunch!" destroying
Nature's second snowflake "confound
It!" stepping over shattered beauty.

Most of nature's fragile pottery was thrown,
But I returned to the ones greatly wounded.
Kneeling, I reached for one and "scrunch!"
My heart was dead.

Artwork by Jesse Jacob Mendoza